Generally, a typical electrical connector includes a dielectric or a metallic housing on which a plurality of conductive terminals or contacts are mounted. The terminals may be adapted for mating with terminals of a complementary connector or other connecting device, or terminated to discrete electrical wires or to conductive circuit traces on a printed circuit board (PCB). In the latter instance, the terminals typically have solder tails projective from the electrical connector housing of solder connection to the circuit traces on the PCB.
Hold-downs are generally used to interconnect electrical connectors to other electrical connectors or PCBs. The type of hold-down used depends on the type of electrical connection being formed between components. Hold-downs are fitted into locating holes in the PCB to minimize lateral (X & Y plane) movement relative to the interconnection. Hold-downs may also resist unwanted vertical (Z plane) movement such as from mating and unmating forces.
Known hold-downs range from mounting posts or pegs integrally molded with the electrical connector housing, such as posts and pegs, to discrete or independent mounting members or boards locks, such as rivets and nut & bolt combination as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,679,883, 5,083,926, 5,108,308, 5,108,312, 5,137,454, 5,441,423, and 5,460,543. Some problems with these types of hold-downs include that they all require valuable "real estate" in providing the interconnections, and that some are composed of two or more components and thus complicate assembly processes and increase assembly cost.
Still further, it is typical that these hold-downs are made of plastic material. The relatively lower rigidity of plastic materials as compared with metallic materials may easily result in failure of the hold-downs due to unwanted vertical movement from mating and unmating forces.
The invention is directed to providing a one-piece hold-down at a lower manufacturing cost, wherein the one-piece hold-down greatly reduces amount of space required on a PCB for mounting the electrical connector.